"You think you can meet love here, but in fact, it's all business." Mr. Li, an interviewee who is still single, recalled his experience of almost falling into the scam of the dating platform and could not help but sigh.
In the Internet era, online dating is becoming more and more popular, many single people look for good relationships through the Internet, and marriage websites and dating platforms come into being. According to relevant data, the scale of China's Internet dating market will reach 7.2 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 11.60% year-on-year. The online dating market has great potential, and while providing great convenience, the dating platform has also exposed many problems, such as online fraud and pornographic services in the name of dating, personal privacy leakage, lax user information review, and non-fulfillment of charging services.
What have users experienced on the dating platform? Does the public trust the dating platform? What measures can be taken to improve the credibility of dating platforms? In late December 2021, the Nandu Poll Center mainly launched a questionnaire survey for users of the dating platform, and recently released the "Public Trust Survey Report on the Dating Platform (2021)".
The report shows that finding a love or marriage partner is the primary purpose of user respondents using the marriage dating platform, accounting for 65%; but 50% of user respondents said that they have encountered scams on the platform, of which the deception of "pretending to be in love and asking for money for various purposes" is the most common; 45% of user respondents or people around them have encountered "pig killing plates", of which nearly 70% of user respondents or people around them have suffered property losses; 60% of user respondents have encountered pornographic content, and 50% of user respondents have encountered sexually seductive nude chat 60% of user respondents have encountered personal information being leaked, and problems such as excessive collection of personal information by the platform and private provision of information to third parties are prominent; 70% of user respondents have spent on the platform, but 4 adults have reported that the relevant commitments have not been fulfilled. Among all the respondents, less than 40% have a trusting attitude towards the platform, and the respondents most hope that the platform will strengthen the user review business, and it is recommended that anti-fraud information be regularly pushed to the public in new media such as WeChat public accounts, Weibo, and Douyin.
Purpose of use:
Sixty-and-a-half percent of the surveyed users in order to find a marriage partner, the post-90s users want to expand their social circle to meet new friends
What is the purpose of using the dating platform? According to the survey results, 65.24% of user respondents said that "looking for love or marriage partners" is the primary reason for using the dating platform, followed by 59.62% who want to "expand their social circle and meet new friends", and 47.02% who say that they want to talk to someone when they are bored. The interactive age group analysis found that the respondents of the post-80s users were more likely to "find a love or marriage partner", accounting for 61.11%, while the post-90s chose to "expand the social circle and meet new friends" The proportion was more prominent, accounting for 66.54%.
Which dating platforms are widely used? According to the survey results, Momo (67.27%), Tantan (59.62%) ranked in the first echelon, followed by Soul (32.62%), Yi pair (24.86%), Zhen'ai Network (23.96%), Lily Jiayuan (Lily Network and Century Jiayuan) (21.60%) and other platforms in the second echelon, the proportion is not much different.
Common pitfalls:
Male users interviewed often encountered sex-tempting nude chats, and female users interviewed were more likely to encounter cheating money in the name of love
In this survey, 53.55% of the respondents said that they or the people around them had encountered scams on the dating platform, of which 37.46% said they "occasionally encountered", 16.09% said they "often encountered", and only 36.67% said they "never encountered".
What tricks have they encountered? The survey found that "pretending to be in love and asking for money for various purposes", "fabricating false identities (gender, age, occupation, etc.)" and "married people concealing marital status" are more deceptions encountered by user respondents, the proportion is 55.88%, 49.58%, and 46.64%. From the perspective of different genders, male user respondents said that they had encountered more cases of "seducing naked chat screen recording/screenshots to carry out extortion", accounting for 43.09%, and female user respondents said that they had encountered "pretending to be in love and asking for money for various purposes", accounting for 55.15%.
What is the purpose of the cheater? 54.20% of the user respondents believe that the scammers want to cheat both money and color, 30.88% think they want to cheat money, and 14.71% think they want to cheat. When asked further about the identity of the fraudster, 52.52% of the respondents believed that it was a platform user, 11.34% thought it was a platform employee, and 35.50% said that they had both.
Ms. Cheng (pseudonym), a post-90s woman from Zhejiang, met a boy who was 5 years older than her on the platform. Both love to play online games. With a common topic in place, the two parties quickly established a relationship. After six months of interaction, the other party said that he had a problem with his funds, and Ms. Cheng provided him with various living allowances, including daily expenses such as rent, meals, and car fuel costs. "But I didn't expect him to be married, and he lied to me to get married for a month and then leave." She said she concealed her marriage history and had not provided a divorce certificate or diploma. There were many quarrels due to suspicion, and finally the other party injured her. Ms. Cheng reported to the police, but the police only took the other party into administrative detention for eight days in the form of public security punishment, and she was hospitalized for more than a month after being injured and had surgery. ”
"Pig Killing Plate":
45% of the users surveyed or those around them have encountered, and nearly 7 adults have suffered financial losses
In recent years, online dating scams have been full of tricks, especially the problem of "pig killing plates". According to the Guangzhou police reported on November 24 last year, 6 cases of "pig killing plate" fraud that were defrauded of more than 1 million yuan were recently accepted, and the owners were all deceived by the other party after determining the "couple" relationship with netizens through online chat, and were induced by the other party to transfer money and recharge on the false investment platform many times.
Has the public encountered a "pig killing plate" on the dating platform? According to the survey results, 46.79% of the user respondents said that they or the people around them had encountered a "pig killing plate" on the marriage and dating platform, 48.71% said that they knew the "pig killing disk", but had not encountered it, and 4.50% said they did not know. In terms of segmentation, user respondents said that they had encountered more betting orders (59.21%), investment orders (57.03%), and wealth management disks (52.67%).
Ms. Li, a post-80s interviewee, is from Guangzhou and has met a "trader" on the dating platform, but cautiously, she did not fall into the "pig killing plate" in the end. "I once met a boy who looked clean on the platform, found that everyone's work and life status were very similar, and later added WeChat to each other." She said people share their daily lives, and they can always send out photos that match what they are doing on a particular occasion and at a particular time. "For example, before going to bed at night, he sent me pictures of me in pajamas and holding a teacup. To be able to do such details, I did not suspect him at the time. "Until the other party sent a few sets of photos of wealth management products and began to induce her to invest in financial management." He said that the return on investment is high, and if you don't buy it, you will lose money. I also found out that he had 'ambiguity' and described the situation of other people as me, and I felt that he should be a couple of people chatting. She immediately reported the other party to block.
However, not everyone can avoid online scams like Ms. Li. In this survey, 69.11% of the respondents said that they or the people around them had lost their property in the online scam, and 55.84% said that they felt hurt. When further understanding the situation, more than half of the respondents said that they lost less than 50,000 yuan, of which the proportion of losses of less than 10,000 yuan was 23.66%, the proportion of losses of 10,000 to 50,000 yuan was 34.14%; and nearly 10.00% of the respondents lost more than 200,000 yuan.
Ah Ling, a post-90s interviewee from Nanjing, met a man born in 84 and claiming to be divorced on the platform. At that time, she was divorcing her husband and could not get the warmth of the family, so she chose to pin her emotions on online dating. "We added WeChat after a few days of chatting on the platform. He usually contacts in the afternoon, and the usual chat will fully affirm me, encourage me, and make me full of hope for the future. For example, set a small goal to buy a car and buy a house, travel to Sanya in winter, and so on. ”
But within two weeks, the other party began to teach her to invest and manage money in a software called "Jufuying", and downloaded a chat software called "Bubble" in the middle of the way, asking to chat on it. "Each single investment transfer cannot exceed 50,000 yuan, and the so-called 'investment' only gives a little 'sweetness' in the early stage." Ah Ling said that she initially successfully withdrew more than 3,000 yuan on the software, and the second time she raised more than 6,000 yuan, and sometimes the other party would recharge on her account to show "encouragement". "Later I found out that his recharge record was fake. Customer service also constantly requires me to pay a deposit to clear the illegal record on the grounds of 'multi-site IP address login, multi-person charging', and cannot be deducted from the software account, and needs to be paid before cash can be withdrawn. Ah Ling said that neither the other party nor the customer service mentioned the "violation" to her. It wasn't until the money she invested couldn't come up with that she realized she had been cheated.
On October 4, 2021, Ah Ling has reported the case to the local police, but as of press time, the case has not made any progress, "The police told me that there is little hope of recovering the money, the other party should be a gang crime and the core figure is likely to be abroad, plus the bank account transferred is different every time, which makes it more difficult to hunt down and enforce the law."
"Jufuying" customer service asked the respondent Ah Ling to pay a deposit of chat records screenshots (left), and part of her transfer records screenshots (right). Courtesy of respondents
Pornography problems:
Fifty percent of the users surveyed have encountered sex-induced nude chat, and the proportion of male users surveyed is higher
In addition to online scams, there are also pornography problems on marriage dating platforms. On April 16, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a special rectification of niche instant messaging tools, and the first batch of instant messaging tools to clean up and shut down nine types of obscene pornographic information, such as "neighbors", "chats" and "secret languages", or provide promotion and platform services for soliciting prostitution and selling pornographic audio and video of prostitution.
The survey also found that 64.23% of the respondents said that they or the people around them had encountered pornography, of which 23.96% were "often encountered", and only 27.33% of the respondents said they had "never encountered". In terms of different genders, male user respondents (72.13%) said that they had encountered pornography problems more than female users (52.51%).
What pornography has users encountered on dating platforms? According to the survey results, 58.49% of the user respondents reported that they had encountered some users using pornographic nicknames or avatars, 51.84% had encountered some users who had seduced nude chats, screenshots or screen recordings, and 51.84% had received pornographic pictures, voice or text harassment.
After the 90s, The interviewee Mr. Li is engaged in the medical industry, due to his busy work and small social circle, he tried to meet more friends of the opposite sex on the marriage dating platform, using Tantan, Soul, Zhen'ai Network and so on. In a "network encounter", he matched a lady with a good avatar, and later the other party invited each other to add QQ. "At that time, our relationship was a bit ambiguous, and I promised to add her QQ, but she actually wanted to induce me to chat naked." Mr. Li recalled, smiled awkwardly and said that the other party sent a Trojan APP that could collect mobile phone contacts to let him install naked chat. He found that something was wrong, and immediately checked the fraud case at the Tencent Security Center, "I didn't expect that the first thing in line at that time was naked chat fraud, I seemed to have been poured a basin of cold water, and suddenly sobered up." ”
Disclosure of Personal Information:
Female users surveyed said they were more often harassed by phone calls and text messages
On June 11, 2021, the official website of the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the "Circular on the Illegal Collection and Use of Personal Information by 129 Apps such as Keep", which mentioned that Zhen'ai.com (version 7.18.6) in the dating app has the problem of "violating the principle of necessity and collecting personal information unrelated to the services it provides". Relevant data also shows that Century Jiayuan (version 8.19.2) has the problem of "collecting personal information privately; sharing it with third parties privately; and forcing users to use the targeted push function".
On June 11, 2021, the official website of the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the "Circular on the Illegal Collection and Use of Personal Information by 129 Apps Such as Keep".
On January 11, 2022, the data website showed that Century Jiayuan (version 8.19.2) had a software violation.
There are problems such as excessive collection of personal information and leakage of user privacy on the dating platform, are users willing to verify personal information on the platform? According to the survey results, user respondents said that they had carried out mobile phone authentication and real-name authentication, accounting for 70.30% and 64.12% respectively, but the proportion of academic qualification certification (41.06%), marriage certification (37.23%), and video certification (28.12%) was relatively low.
After submitting relevant personal information on the dating platform, have users encountered personal information leakage? According to the survey data, 62.09% of the respondents said that they or the people around them had experienced personal information leakage, of which 42.63% said they "occasionally encountered", 19.46% said they "often encountered", and 27.00% said they "never encountered".
Among the respondents who have experienced personal information leakage, 56.34% of the respondents reflected that "the platform excessively collected the user's personal information", 51.99% said that "the platform privately provided personal information to a third party", and 50.54% believed that "the chat/browsing records were over-consulted by the platform". The interaction analysis found that male user respondents said that they had encountered the problem of "chat/browsing history being over-viewed by the platform", accounting for 53.78%, while female user respondents had a higher proportion of "frequent marketing calls or text messages", accounting for 45.05%.
Ms. Li, an interviewee, said that she had registered on the Zhen'ai network, but she received text messages and phone calls from our main Liangyuan platform. "The platform red lady kept calling me to go to the store to see." Ms. Li said that she had conducted real-name authentication and mobile phone authentication on Zhen'ai.com, and suspected that her personal information had been leaked. Therefore, she said that she would not submit academic certificates, property certificates and other information to the dating platform.
On December 15, 2021, the researchers tried to register on the three platforms of Century Jiayuan, Baihe Network and Tantan, and only need to fill in the mobile phone number to register and log in, and after logging in, they can improve personal information such as gender, age, marital status, and mate selection needs. However, the researcher did not register on the Youyuan marriage platform, but received a dynamic text message from the platform.
Nandu researchers did not register on the Youyuan Dating Platform, but received a dynamic text message from the platform on December 24, 2021.
The survey also found that the proportion of user respondents who reported encountering scammers who took users' personal information and published it on pornographic websites, personal IDENTITY card information was stolen, and bank account numbers were stolen was 43.84%, 21.92%, and 12.50%, respectively.
Is the dating platform responsible for protecting user privacy? Nearly 40% of user respondents believe that the platform's due diligence is average or not responsible, and as many as 60% of non-user respondents believe that the platform's due diligence is average or not responsible.
Paid Services:
Less than 30% of the surveyed users experienced that their commitments had been fully fulfilled
On January 5 this year, The Paper reported that a number of consumers complained about the false promises of the Century Jiayuan platform to induce consumption, pay money before signing the contract, the content of the contract did not match the previous publicity, and the service fee was deducted for applying for a refund. In the report, Ms. Wu from Shanghai reflected that the "lily Jiayuan one-to-one service" purchased by century Jiayuan Shanghai Pudong store for 48,800 yuan had a hegemonic clause, and contacted the merchant that night to ask for a refund, but the merchant rejected her appeal; Ms. Li from Guangzhou said that she signed a one-on-one blind date service package worth 68,800 yuan at the VIP center of Zhujiang New Town in Century Jiayuan Guangzhou, and after asking for a refund, she was told that the refund not only had to bear the liquidated damages, but also deducted the "meeting fee".
How many users have spent on the dating platform? Survey data shows that 72.10% of the respondents said that they or the people around them have spent money on the marriage and dating platform. Among them, half of the respondents spent less than 1,000 yuan; the proportion of spending 501 to 1,000 yuan was the highest, accounting for 25.59%; the proportion of spending 1,001 to 3,000 yuan ranked second, accounting for 19.97%.
Interaction analysis found that male users who spent 1001-3000 yuan accounted for 22.44%, while women accounted for only 15.83%. Further interaction between the amount of consumption and the purpose of consumption found that the more user respondents consume, the higher the proportion of users who expect to accurately recommend users on the platform, of which 55.56% of the user respondents who spend 20001-30000 yuan choose this item, while the user respondents who spend 301-500 yuan only account for 43.27% of the user respondents.
What is the main purpose of users spending on the dating platform? User respondents said that they want to obtain multiple communication methods (54.60%), obtain accurate recommendation of users on the platform (50.55%), enjoy artificial red bride matching services (47.89%), and unlock to view each other's information (46.18%) are the main reasons.
Does the user's paid service on the dating platform achieve the promised effect? The survey found that 28.71% of user respondents said "all reached", 57.57% said "partially reached", and 10.45% said "completely unattainable".
It is worth noting that nearly two adults among the respondents who paid 20,001-30,000 yuan said that the service effect was "all unattainable". It can be seen that the more you pay on the dating platform, the better the service effect.
Respondents also reflected the consumption problems encountered on the platform in the survey, 43.84% of the user respondents said that they had encountered "forced recharge to unlock chat/consultation and other functions", 42.28% said that they had encountered "the platform exaggerated publicity, promises not to be fulfilled", 38.69% said that they had encountered "difficult to refund, the platform delayed time", and 34.01% encountered the problem of "not enjoying the service but being charged".
Jack, a post-90s interviewee from Huizhou, said that his parents frequently urged him to find a partner. I accidentally saw the push advertisement of my main Liangyuan on the WeChat public account, and purchased a membership service of 6,000 yuan with the mentality of trying. "The first three recommended by red brides are VIP one-on-one, and the service attitude is better." But after three, I was basically 'freed'. He said that the frequency of the platform's recommendation to him in the later period is decreasing, and most of them need to take the initiative to inquire about the situation.
Degree of trust:
The trust level of the dating platform is less than 40%, and the respondents most want to strengthen user review
What is the success rate of dating on the dating platform? Survey data show that among all respondents, 42.14% think that the success rate is relatively large or very large, 32.84% think that the success rate is average, and 25.02% think that the success rate is relatively small or very small. Among the user respondents, 45.57% of them thought that the success rate was relatively large or very large, 31.06% thought that the success rate was average, and 23.37% thought that the success rate was relatively small or very small; among the respondents who had users around them, 39.70% thought that the success rate was relatively large or very large, 35.68% thought that the success rate was average, and 24.63% thought that the success rate was relatively small or very small.
How much do you trust the dating platform? The survey found that among all respondents, 38.09% of them had a trusting attitude towards the dating platform, and 61.91% had a general or distrustful attitude. In terms of segmentation, among the user respondents, 41.19% held a trusting attitude and 58.81% held a general or distrustful attitude; the non-user respondents had a lower degree of trust in the platform, only 24.00% of the people held a trusting attitude, and up to 76.00% held a general or distrustful attitude.
In view of the endless online scams, privacy leaks, and non-fulfillment of paid service promises on dating platforms, what measures can improve their credibility? In the survey, it is hoped that the platform will strengthen its ability to review business (52.42%), use scientific and technological means to encrypt user information (50.54%), force users to authenticate and use real-name (45.20%), promptly destroy user accounts that have completed or withdrawn from services (44.41%), and strengthen supervision of marriage and dating platforms (40.65%), ranking among the top five.
In addition, what are the ways to effectively improve the personal prevention awareness of platform users? Respondents suggested that new media such as WeChat public accounts, Weibo, and Douyin regularly push anti-fraud information at the highest rate, close to 70.00%,; followed by suggesting that the government or public security departments hold anti-fraud special activities, accounting for 66.27%.
epilogue:
Judging from the survey results, the respondents have certain needs for online marriage and dating, more than 60% of the surveyed users hope to find their favorite objects through the marriage dating platform, and many respondents are willing to pay for personalized and accurate services on the platform.
However, on the other hand, the survey results also reflect that due to the lack of industry governance and platform supervision, there are various problems in user review, content control, information protection, service guarantee and commitment fulfillment of the dating platform, which makes the trust of the interviewed users on the platform generally not high. First of all, the network scam caused by the user's lax review is full of "tricks", more than 50% of the interviewed users said that they or the people around them have encountered scams on the marriage and dating platform, of which pretending to be in love and asking for money is the most common, and 45% of the interviewed users said that they or those around them have encountered "pig killing plates" on the platform. Secondly, in terms of content control, pornography is more common, and more than 50% of the surveyed users said that they have encountered other users of the platform using pornographic nicknames or avatars, sex lure nude chat, pornographic information harassment and other situations. Third, in terms of personal information leakage, the proportion of interviewed users who reflected the excessive collection of personal information by the platform and the private provision of information to third parties exceeded 50%. In addition, in terms of paid services, only 20% of user respondents believe that the platform's paid commitment services can fully achieve results, and problems such as forced recharge chat and exaggerated publicity are prominent.
Based on the above problems, the research group hopes to promote the relevant responsible entities to strengthen supervision and guidance from the aspects of industry governance, platform supervision, and personal prevention through investigation.
First, relevant functional departments should strengthen industry supervision and platform governance. In recent years, in order to rectify the chaos of marriage and dating platforms, a number of laws and regulations have been issued at the national level. In 2017, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Doing a Good Job in Youth Marriage and Love Work", requiring coordination and promotion of the coordination and linkage of departments such as industry and commerce, industry and information technology, public security, network supervision, and organ functions, and promoting the strict implementation of real-name authentication and real-name registration on the marriage and dating platform. However, there is still room for improvement in the implementation of the policy, and the management system of each functional department should achieve information interconnection and publicity, truly implement the main responsibility, and strictly carry out qualification certification, illegal registration, and deduction of points and penalties for all kinds of marriage and dating platforms.
Second, marriage and dating platforms should strengthen self-discipline autonomy and credit construction. The platform should strictly carry out employee qualification certification and assessment training to ensure the implementation of user audits, privacy protection, content control, etc. At the same time, scientific and technological means can be used to verify the authenticity and compliance of user information and certification content.
The third is to strengthen anti-deception publicity and guidance, and enhance users' awareness of self-prevention. For platform users, the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau reminds everyone to pay attention to the following aspects: First, personal information is not clear. In addition to the photos of "rich and handsome" and "white rich and beautiful", the specific personal identity information involved by the scammers is blurred or even blank, and various reasons refuse to meet with the owner. Second, excessive thoughtfulness. Scammers tend to show active enthusiasm, intimate and well-behaved, sensible and filial piety, and soon "smoothly" develop a romantic relationship with the owner. Third, demand money for various reasons. After the "sensationalism" in the early stage, the scammer asks the owner to transfer money on the grounds of arrears and medical treatment. Once the owner questions, the scammer threatens to break up, and the owner is often difficult to distinguish. Fourth, unknown links are not clicked, strange calls are not credulous, personal information is not disclosed, and transfer remittances should be verified. In addition, 96110 is an anti-telecom network fraud number, and the public can call for advice if they encounter suspicious situations.
You can also use anti-fraud mini programs to identify various scam tricks. For example, the Tencent Security Center Mini Program and the Guangzhou Anti-Fraud Center's "Spike Security Fraud Prevention" Mini Program have the function of querying suspicious WeChat, QQ number, mobile phone number and link.
Screenshot of the Tencent Security Center Mini Program page (left), "Spike Security Fraud" Mini Program reveals the "Pig Killing Disk" fraud method (right).
Survey Overview:
The Nandu Polling Center conducted this survey from December 21, 2021 to January 4, 2022, and collected a total of 1,011 valid questionnaires through a combination of offline visits, telephone interviews and online questionnaires. Among them, male respondents accounted for 58.95%, and female respondents accounted for 41.05%. From the perspective of age groups, post-90s accounted for 59.94%, post-80s accounted for 25.12%, post-00s accounted for 8.70%, post-70s and before accounted for 6.23%; from the perspective of academic status, undergraduate degree accounted for 50.15%, college degree accounted for 27.50%, high school/technical secondary school education accounted for 11.47%, master's degree or above accounted for 8.51%; from the monthly income, the monthly income of 5001-8000 yuan accounted for 33.23%, 8001-10000 yuan accounted for 23.24%, 3001-5000 yuan accounted for 18.89%, 10001-15000 yuan accounted for 10.98%.
Since the questionnaire was forwarded and promoted in the relevant groups or group chats of the dating platform, the proportion of respondents who used the relevant platform was high. Among them, 48.27% of the respondents said that they had "used" the dating platform, 19.49% said that they had "used it by the people around them", 19.88% said that they and the people around them had used it, and only 12.36% said that they had "never used it".
From the perspective of user gender, among the respondents who said they had "used it themselves", 67.60% were men and 32.40% were women. From the perspective of user age groups, post-90s accounted for 61.80%, post-80s 25.40%, post-00s accounted for 7.3%, and post-70s accounted for 3.6%. From the perspective of user academic qualifications, 53.20% of them have a bachelor's degree, 28.80% have a college degree, 10.20% have a high school or technical secondary school degree, 5.90% have a master's degree, and 1.60% have a junior high school degree or below.
Research topics in social surveys and public opinion
Social Group and Public Psychology Studies
Project Producer: Nandu Poll Center
Project Producer: Xie Bin Zhang Chun
Project Host: Wen Yiran
Project Execution: Nandu Researcher Mai Jieying Wen Yiran Xie Xiaoqing
Intern Weng Wanting Wen Yiting Du Meiyu Xiang Zixin
Support platform: Southern Metropolis Daily official WeChat public account WeChat public account